FAMILY BROKEN
Devastated mum of Ukrainian woman, 22, ‘raped & murdered’ by Russian soldiers sobs as she reveals daughter was tortured
THE mum of a Ukrainian woman who was allegedly brutally raped and murdered by Russian soldiers has told of her heartbreak in a harrowing interview.
The body of the "beautiful" Karina Yershova, 22, was discovered mercilessly dumped in a garden in war-crime ravaged Bucha.
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Her mutilated corpse was found with "tears" and "wounds", while all her nails - apart from one - had been torn off.
Police told her family that Karina had been murdered and tortured - but didn't disclose all the details as they were "so horrific".
The 22-year-old was allegedly raped, shot in the back of the head and discarded in a backyard by Putin's vile henchmen.
Her parents believe she had desperately "tried to fight" back against the troops as she battled for her life.
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The brave Ukrainian had even managed to make a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from a gunshot wound to her leg.
Now her mum Olena and stepfather Andrii Dereko have spoken out about their grief and outrage at their only daughter's horrific murder.
Fighting back tears, her mother told Ukraine24: "The police said that she was badly tortured.
"My girl wanted to live so much. She even applied tourniquets to herself to stop the bleeding."
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Andrii added: "They shot her in the legs. Then, with a shot in the head, they killed her."
The pair previously branded Russian soldiers "animals" as the extent of the atrocities in Bucha began to be emerge.
More than 400 bodies were found in the city after Moscow's depraved army withdrew through the Kyiv suburb.
Karina, who had been managing a local sushi bar while saving money for university, disappeared from Bucha in early March.
Her mother appealed for information on her whereabouts on social media before her body was found with "almost half of her head missing".
The 22-year-old was last seen alive on the stairs outside her flat - before a neighbour witnessed a woman fitting her description being killed.
The man, named as Valerii, recalled: "He put her here, like this, her head was bent back.
My girl wanted to live so much. She even applied tourniquets to herself to stop the bleeding.
Olena Dereko
"Then he took her in his arms and carried her over there. Then another soldier shot her."
Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lydmila Denysova claimed Russian troops were using rape as a weapon against civilians.
She described their sick taunts and threats while allegedly attacking victims as "signs of genocide of the Ukrainian people."
Harrowing tales have continued to emerge from the front line as Putin's invaders have been accused of committing unspeakable war crimes.
One account from Bucha claimed that a 14-year-old girl had been gang-raped and impregnated by Russian soldiers.
Another involved a mum who was allegedly kidnapped and raped by Chechen soldiers before having her throat slit.
And Ms Denysova earlier claimed Putin's troops had branded a teen girl "too ugly" to rape - before forcing her to watch her mum and sister die.
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Meanwhile a chilling intercepted phone call between a Russian soldier and his wife heard her give permission for her husband to rape Ukrainian women.
Sexual assault has become so sickeningly widespread in Ukraine that young girls are cutting their hair short to avoid being attacked by marauding Russian butchers.
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